Star Wars The Last Jedi: How a Franchise Grew Up

I’m sure everyone has an opinion on Star Wars The Last Jedi. It is easily the most divisive film in the series since the prequels. As a long time Star Wars fan I can honestly say I loved it for one simple reason. Rian Johnson took the rulebook for making a Star Wars movie and set it aside to create his own vision.

Sure a number of plot points evoke previous films but what is familiar before is now used differently to subvert fan expectations. The biggest would have to be Supreme Leader Snoke’s death in the middle chapter of a trilogy. In any other work, the “Big Bad” is defeated in the final battle of the last part of the saga. Here we discover the villain we have followed for nearly two films is the decoy for our real villain.

Much has been said and written of George Lucas being heavily influenced by Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey. This can be seen within the original trilogy with Luke Skywalker’s quest to become a Jedi and free the galaxy from evil. However this story has become so common that it seems like it’s time to move on. The Last Jedi does feature heroes but we also see that being a hero is not a perfect life. Instead the film presents a message that the next generation of heroes need to learn from those who came before.